The Triple-Threat Card Trick

The Setup: Have 3 friends pull out any 3 cards they want out of the deck (it's best if the 3 cards "go together", either the same suit, number, etc.). lay out 3 piles for them: two with 15 cards, one with 14 cards (you'll have 8 cards left over in your hand). One at a time, ask your marks to set their card on top of their small pile, and then steal a few cards from their neighbor to the right; place these stolen cards on top of their original pile, so there's no way you could know where in the each deck each card is. (for the last pile of 15 cards, there won't be a neighbor to their right, so you can just drop your 8 cards on top of their deck). finally, pick up each of the 3 piles, and stack them on top of each other (with the deck that originally had 14 cards at the bottom). Now you're set.

The Payoff: Promise you'll show them all the cards, but only half the deck at a time. Deal the cards into two piles, one pile of face-up cards, and one pile of face down cards (alternate with each card through the whole deck). Surprisingly, nobody will see their card. With the remaining face down cards, repeat the process. Again, nobody will see their card. Repeat again and again, until finally only 3 face down cards remain... which are (of course), their selected cards.

The Method: Crazy enough, you don't even need to understand WHY this trick works, to know that it works. Just make sure that you meticulously follow the directions given on screen, and the last three cards will always be their selections. (just make sure you pay attention to the order of the stacks in your setup and execution!) make sure you pay attention to the order of the stacks in your setup and execution!)